KUALA LUMPUR — The Malaysian rubber market is likely to see a quiet trading next week ahead of the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday which begins on Feb 16.
A dealer said holiday mode has kicked in and the Chinese traders had started to pack up and get ready for the celebration.
“The traders are expected to move away from the market next week, resulting in a quiet trading environment,” he said.
Meanwhile, the dealer said, the local rubber market would also move in tandem with the performances of regional rubber futures markets, namely, Tokyo Commodity Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange, next week.
“The global crude oil prices and the ringgit’s movements against the US dollar will also play a role in deciding the local rubber price,” he said.
For the week just-ended, the rubber market was traded mostly mixed, mainly influenced by the regional markets’ performances, the ringgit’s movements and crude oil prices.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s noon price for tyre-grade SMR 20 fell 15.5 sen to 556.0 sen a kg, while latex-in-bulk advanced five sen to 463.0 sen a kg.
The 5 pm unofficial closing price for SMR 20 slid 16.5 sen to 554.5 sen a kg, while latex-in-bulk perked 5.5 sen to 466.0 sen a kg.
- Bernama
